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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Fabulous Focaccia

I've definitely been bitten by the baking bug... sadly I haven't been bitten by the 'clean up as you go bug' or the 'don't eat everything you cook' bug. But hey, I'm working on it.

I tend to only bake sweet things so figured it was about time I gave something savoury a whirl, and I was so happy with the result that I think this will become a standard brunch around these parts - well, if I ever had people over for brunch that is.

I raided the cupboard and used what I already had on hand and threw it all in to see what would happen - which for a control freak like me is really strange, but seems to be working well so far!

25g fetta (I prefer to crumble it, but only had the harder stuff to slice)

1/4 tsp dried cumin

Method

Combine yeast, sugar and 1/2 cup of warm water and allow it to bubble up before adding the oil and remaining water, set aside

Sift both flours in to a large mixing bowl, add in aniseed and Fibre Toppers and make sure it's well combined

Add the yeast mix to the flour mix and stir with a wooden spoon until you get a dough - it will be really sticky

Cover with a damp teatowel and allow to rest for an hour in a warm place (I always use the back seat of my car!)

Dough should double in size and will still be extremely sticky so use well floured hands (or a bit of melted copha) to halve the mixture and place on to lined baking trays, shaping as you go, but not too much - keep it rustic

Brush with a little extra virgin olive oil and place sliced tomato, onion and thyme on one, and fetta, olives and cumin on the other

Allow to sit for a further 15 minutes (which I *ahem* kinda forgot to do but they still worked out, phew!)

Bake at 220C for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown

When cooked, allow to cool for a few minutes on a wire rack to prevent the bottom going soggy and voila!

The Fibre Toppers and aniseed can be seen scattered throughout the dough

I served thin slices of both of these before a pasta dish (come back tomorrow for that one) in place of garlic bread as a healthier option. You could serve it with dip for a brunch, but there is enough flavour packed in to these that you really don't need anything else with them!

So I guess I should have a brunch now, yes? Who's coming?

Click here to see a nutritional panel I created for the base focaccia minus toppings - see that? I can make nutritional panels now!!!

This is NOT a sponsored post, but it is a competition entry for Kellogg's to winsponsorship to BlogHer - I'll tell you about it tomorrow!

6 comments:

Why, why, why did I have to check into this post today Glow? Just when I am doing so well on the 12WBT (hard diet/training torture) along comes your foccacia recipe to make me drool! A big THANKS for the nutrition info though, so I can see how TINY a piece I can allow myself in one sitting ;-)